『「 Today, all of you will die right here! 』」
Saying so, the Soul Shrieker’s presence slowly escalated to its peak.
It had gotten serious, ready for one final battle against [Order]
All of a sudden, a voice resounded from inside the ship:
“Perhaps, one person wouldn’t necessarily die”
Gu Qing Shan leapt out from the ship and stood in mid-air.
The Soul Shrieker paused.
It looked at Gu Qing Shan, then at the ship, its expression full of doubt.
Gu Qing Shan chuckled and replied: “I’ve now understood something. The reason why you’ve been able to find me, was because you knew that I wanted to come here and save Lady Darksea”
Three coins suddenly appeared in his hand.
“Then, if I simply discard the [Demon King Order] and use the power of the three coins, randomly fleeing to a random point in time, none of you will ever be able to find me”
Endless black fog appeared from the three coins and slowly enveloped Gu Qing Shan.
The Soul Shrieker stared incessantly at him and spoke: 『「 I know you’re not going to give up on these people, give up on [Order] and flee by yourself. I know you, and I know you’ve never been such a person 』」
Gu Qing Shan casually replied: “In the wake of a new era, both you and I are nothing but ants in front of the wheel of Fate. When the Apocalypse approaches us, unless we want to be crushed, we will have to change ourselves”
The black fog slowly grew stronger and surrounded him.
A cold, emotionless voice resounded from within the fog:
“You’re free to do what you want to these people, and I’ve left the [Order] right here, I’m leaving”
The Soul Shrieker and Demon Dragon exchanged glances.
The Demon Dragon couldn’t help but question: 「 Where are you going? 」
“I still haven’t thought about that. Perhaps the prehistoric era, the Age of Old, or one of the relatively peaceful eras within the River of Time”
Gu Qing Shan’s voice appeared transcendent: “I’m not going to tell you where I’m heading, only that you will never be able to find me”
The Soul Shrieker went silent briefly and spoke: 『「 How ridiculous, and here I thought of you as an enemy I must face with everything in my arsenal. Who would’ve thought you’re just another crippled satisfied to live an easy-going life? 』」
「『 This Deity is the founder of the Era of [Chaos], the true ruler of this era, and I do not have the leisure to search for a mere ant within the River of Time 」』
「『 Scram, flee as far as you can 」』
The Soul Shrieker’s gaze left Gu Qing Shan’s figure and turned to the ship.
It could sense…
「 That can’t be true, I refuse to believe he’d ever act like this 」the Demon Dragon gazed at the Soul Shrieker and spoke full of doubts: 「 Gu Qing Shan, this is another one of your schemes, isn’t it? 」
“No” Gu Qing Shan replied.
The three coins abruptly erupted with power!
The black fog fully covered Gu Qing Shan and shot to the sky, quickly leaving from this current timeline.
—–he had truly left.
「 He ran away! We need to chase after him! 」the Demon Dragon took out his three coins and shouted.
「『 There is no need 」』the Soul Shrieker calmly replied.
The Demon Dragon shouted again: 「 We can easily kill these garbage in front of us any time we wish. We need to quickly chase after him or he would really get away 」
The Soul Shrieker stood still.
『「 I am the envoy of [Chaos], the ruler of this era, and I can clearly sense it——- 』」
The Soul Shrieker displayed a complicated expression and gradually spoke: 『「 The final [Order] within the 900 million World Layers, [Worlds Apocalypse Online – Demon King Order] had been discarded by Gu Qing Shan and left in that ship 』」
『「 The entirety of [Chaos] is cheering, urging, waiting with bated breaths, they are telling me to complete the final step 』」
「 BUT GU QING SHAN IS ABOUT TO DISAPPEAR! 」the Demon Dragon shouted.
The Soul Shrieker coldly replied: 「『 So what? 」』
The Demon Dragon froze.
The Soul Shrieker continued: 『「 He left the [Order] here, do you understand? He had given up everything, becoming a garbage that’s about to be left behind by the era. This sort of person is no longer worthy of becoming a stepping stone for the era, he can live the rest of his life as a mundane nobody; because he’s not qualified to die at my hands 』」
The Demon Dragon was in disbelief and asked: 「 The final [Order] is left in the ship? Are you sure it’s not a trap? 」
The Soul Shrieker pointed at the ship with absolute confidence: 『「 It is not, the [Chaos] within this void had proven it to me, there are no mistakes 』」
The Soul Shrieker’s expression turned obsessive and muttered: 「『 This is the final [Order], and as soon as I destroy it, everything will be over 」』
It abruptly moved and flew towards the ship.
Watching the Soul Shrieker moving forward, the Demon Dragon appeared a bit hesitant.
Regardless if Gu Qing Shan had truly given up on resisting or if he had something else planned, he had indeed left this timeline.
If I won’t pursue him, he will truly slip away.
He would thoroughly vanish from the 900 million World Layers, hidden in an unknown era and unknown world, no longer to be found.
No!
I can’t let that happen!
The Demon Dragon opened his palm and tossed the three coins forward.
Black fog then began to spread, enveloping him in just a few seconds.
The fog moved.
The black dragon disappeared.
He had gone to chase after Gu Qing Shan!
The Soul Shrieker ignored this and made its way in front of the ship.
『「 Last carrier of [Order], will you come out by yourself, or do I have to drag you out? 』」the Soul Shrieker questioned.
The door of the ship opened again.
Barry walked out.
The Soul Shrieker observed him and spoke in a hoarse voice: 『「 Indeed, this is the final [Order], and the last carrier of [Order] 』」
It was literally trembling in anticipation.
After countless years, this moment had finally arrived.
Even an entity of its caliber couldn’t control its emotions.
Barry stood on top of the ship, lit a cigarette, took a deep drag, and breathed out a circle of smoke.
He faced the Soul Shrieker’s gaze head-on.
“So, I heard that if you kill me, the Era of [Chaos] will completely descend?” [1]
Barry asked.
…
The Demon Dragon was flying through the endless fog.
Using the power of the three coins, he was once again traversing the River of Time to search for Gu Qing Shan’s trace.
Fortunately, since Gu Qing Shan hadn’t left for too long, there was still a faint residue of Space-Time fluctuation, allowing him to find where he had gone.
The Demon Dragon sped up.
Flying.
With his full might, flying.
Until a certain moment.
He abruptly stopped and glanced at the fog in front of him.
Gu Qing Shan appeared from the fog.
“I’ve already given up on the [Order] and everything else, so what are you pursuing me for? What else do you want from me?” he asked with irritation.
The Demon Dragon silently observed him and muttered: 「 Indeed… I can sense it… it must be you 」
“What are you talking about?” Gu Qing Shan asked.
The Demon Dragon replied: 「 Ever since our encounter on the Gemini Star, I’ve sensed that power from your body 」
“What power?”
「 My power 」
The Demon Dragon took out a pair of gauntlets, slowly donning it on his hands, then continued: 「 At the time, I had thought that I felt it wrong 」
「 After all, within the same timeline, how could there be two individuals who wield the same power of the Demon Dragon? 」
「 During that battle at the final moment of the Age of Old, you suddenly appeared and manipulated the Soul Shrieker to kill me 」
「 However, I’ve already been converted into an Abyssal creature at that time, so I couldn’t die. The Soul Shrieker only forced me into slumber 」
「 Because of that, it might have killed me, but it did not strip me of my powers 」
「 No one could have stolen the power of the Bygone Era ultimate Soul Artifact from me! 」
The Demon Dragon swung his fist after donning his gauntlets to warm himself up.
Hoh—–
Intense flaky flames erupted from the gauntlets.
「 Gu Qing Shan, you wield the power of another Demon Dragon, an unimaginable truth 」
「 For that reason, I had come to the Bramble Bird Kingdom myself, only to be defeated 」
「 I followed the Abyssal King and acted as your servants in order to observe you 」
「 I thought, and thought, and thought, and thought, but still couldn’t come up with a reason why you wielded almost the exact same power I do 」
「 Later on, after I recalled the twin swords Heaven and Earth, I finally understood 」
「 You killed another ‘me’ within the parallel world fragments of the Age of Old 」
「 That ‘me’ must have still been laying in slumber within the Abyssal Prison and hadn’t been converted into an Abyssal creature 」
「 You must have obtained the power of that other ‘me’, that is surely what happened! 」
Boom!
Intense killing intent emanated from the Demon Dragon.
Within the fog, he was warming his entire body up in order to prepare to eliminate Gu Qing Shan once and for all.
Gu Qing Shan chuckled and replied: “As expected, someone who’s working as a spy couldn’t possibly be dumb——– that’s right, I had indeed obtained the power of a slumbering Demon Dragon”
「 Not only that, just a while ago, you’ve also killed an Azure Dragon 」the Demon Dragon continued.
This time, it was Gu Qing Shan’s turn to be surprised.
“Oh? You also know about this, and you still came to kill me by yourself?” he asked.
The Demon Dragon smirked and spoke full of sarcasm: 「 Don’t act dumb, Gu Qing Shan. Wasn’t it because you desired my Demon Dragon powers that you purposely led me here? 」
「 Between the two of us, the survivor will be able to thoroughly obtain the other party’s power 」
「 As I said back at the Bramble Bird Kingdom, there is only one Demon Dragon in this reality! 」
「 There is only one individual who can use the Demon Dragon’s bloodline ability to devour the power of living beings, and that is me! 」
Two figures abruptly flashed and turned into black shadows, vanishing where they stood.
In the blink of an eye, the two dragon-shaped clusters of black fog had traversed an extreme distance to crash into one another.
Oom—–
Invisible shockwaves spread.
The fog of the River of Time was scattered by the power of their clash, blown away out of sight.
Their draconic shapes scattered.
The two figures flew back in opposite directions.
Gu Qing Shan was sent flying a few dozen meters and coughed up a bit of fresh blood.
While the Demon Dragon was only sent back two steps before regaining his stance.
He swung his fist to discard the blood on it.
「 The information I received said that you killed an Azure Dragon, but both the power of the Demon Dragon and Azure Dragon only amounted to this much, huh? 」the Demon Dragon commented, a bit disappointed.
Gu Qing Shan looked at the Demon Dragon in disbelief.
Only to see that the Demon Dragon was wearing a yaksha mask.
The Wraith realm!
Indeed, the Demon Dragon was a spy of the Wraith realm who had laid in hiding for over a million years, up until today.
Compared to the slumbering Demon Dragon of the past, he had grown considerably stronger to an unbelievable degree!
The Demon Dragon’s eyes were hidden behind the mask, standing absolutely still.
With the Demon Dragon as well as the reinforcement of the Wraith realm, he wasn’t an opponent that could be arbitrarily defeated.
The Demon Dragon suddenly said: 「 Now that we’re talking, Gu Qing Shan, I really have to thank your little scheme 」
“Cheh, you’re using such an attack to thank me?” Gu Qing Shan asked.
The Demon Dragon shook his head and continued speaking from behind the mask:
「 I don’t know why the God of Life hadn’t come with us, but you had even managed to split me up with the Soul Shrieker; the level of scheming you’ve employed is truly worthy of praise 」
「 If you still carried [Order], then the one who killed you would not have been me, but the Soul Shrieker—— as it must personally defeat you in order to finish the [Order] off, that is the covenant between it and our Wraith realm, one that I cannot go against 」
At this point, the Demon Dragon acted regretful and continued: 「 But Gu Qing Shan, you’ve let greed cloud over your eyes and forgot a certain thing 」
“What would that be?” Gu Qing Shan wiped the dried blood at the corner of his mouth and asked.
「 You’ve forgotten that schemes are useless in front of absolute might 」the Demon Dragon casually replied.
Black fog once again manifested from his body, gradually morphed, and took the form of the black dragon from below.
His killing intent boiled.
He was ready to kill Gu Qing Shan with his next attack and steal the power of the two dragons from him!
Gu Qing Shan was still estimating the clash from before and muttered: “You are currently very strong indeed, but my power is only around 20-30% lower than yours”
The Demon Dragon smirked: 「 Even a difference of 10% is more than enough to decide victory and defeat, let alone 30%. Gu Qing Shan, you’ve outsmarted yourself; today I’m going to kill you and turn you into my power 」
Gu Qing Shan paused for a second.
“Hm… in front of absolute power, schemes are useless, I agree with that”
He slowly said.
As he did, an autumn-clear blue steel sword appeared from behind him and turned into a cold beauty in maid clothes.
Shannu.
She twirled her body and transformed into Gu Qing Shan.
“Gongzi, will I be able to turn into a dragon as well?” she asked with anticipation.
“Of course”
[1] lmao, my favorite one-liner in the entire series
